Sunday was another line up of excellent speakers, DJ Grothe, Dr Ken Harvey, Dr Rachael Dunlop, Stephen Mayne, Lawrence Leung, James “The Amazing” Randi and many more. Look carefully in this set of images for a certain life member and secretary of a state branch jamming with Paul Conroy on guitar.

Congratulations to Dr Ken Harvey.The Australian Consumers Association has named Dr Ken Harvey as the CHOICE “Consumer Champion of 2012”.

It seems if there is a shonky medical product on sale, Dr Harvey knows about it and works tirelessly to highlight the problem to government authorities and the public at large; and to improve policy and regulation to reduce the harm and financial burden that shonky products impose on consumers.

The award is well deserved. The number of committees, policy groups and organisations on which Dr Harvey serves and is actively involved with is bewildering.

The TGA will be making a final decision on the weight loss product, the SUPPREXXA Hunger Buster kit, after consideration of material provided by the sponsor, Chika Health Pty Ltd, in support of the claims made about the kit.

To me, this looks like bait and switch advertising. Potential customers are seduced by the weight loss message, however, it may be that the only way weight is lost is by putting in the hard work with the diet and exercise program. Could potential customers simply not buy the kit (thereby saving $50) and Read the rest of this entry »

I think everyone is aware of the problem – magnetic underlays, ear candles, homeopathy and bogus weight loss products, to name but a few examples of modern day snake oil; products that make therapeutic claims but are unsupported by evidence that they work. The government agency responsible for protecting consumers from the greed and self-interest of quack medical products, the Therapeutic Goods Agency (TGA) appears powerless to stop it.

It’s no secret that this site has been heavily involved in Alt Med issues recently – partly due to circumstance, and partly because we’ve taken some initiatives.

A great source of frustration is that statutory regulatory bodies like the Therapeutic Goods Administration can’t (or won’t) provide real consumer protection in ensuring that alternative medical products live up to their claims.

Vic Skeptics have arranged a forum to investigate this issue, on Wednesday evening 16th November at La Notte Restaurant in Carlton, featuring a distinguished panel:

The Pharmacy Guild says its deal to promote Blackmores complementary medicines (CMs) has been withdrawn in view of “media reporting of the endorsement which was ill-informed and inflammatory”. My own view is that the deal itself was ill-informed and inflammatory. It involved an undisclosed payment by Blackmores to enable GuildCare dispensing software to prompt pharmacists entering prescriptions to on-sell Blackmores “Companion” products.

The four Guild-endorsed Blackmores products were a probiotic to be promoted with antibiotics, zinc with blood pressure drugs, coenzyme Q10 with vitamin D3 for statins and magnesium with proton pump inhibitors.

Dr Ken Harvey

The National Prescribing Service (NPS) and others have pointed out that there is no good evidence to support the routine use of these supplements with the prescription drugs targeted.

In addition, this practice would unnecessarily add to the “medication burden” experienced by many patients taking multiple drugs, including compliance difficulties, increased cost and potential drug interactions.

Finally, it presents ethical problems for GuildCare (who were recommending one brand only) and for individual pharmacists (who would benefit financially if they went along with prompts that may not be in their patient’s best interest).

Do you recall our story about the health giving jewellery that could be purchased from Qantas duty free? Dr Ken Harvey put in a complaint to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)’s Complaints Resolution Panel (CRP) about the same. The complaint was upheld; the CRP asked for the withdrawal of advertising.

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A company called Alpha Flight Services Pty Ltd handles the sale of duty free items on Qantas flights.

Alpha Flight Services Pty Ltd also stated that, in response to the complaint, they had “acted promptly to withdraw all promotion of the products online” and had stopped selling the products.

In part the decision says:

The Panel was therefore satisfied that the advertisements contained many claims that had not been verified, were likely to arouse unwarranted expectations, and were misleading. These included the claims that the advertised products could improve heath, improve metabolism, improve or encourage blood circulation, expel toxins, reduce stress, improve sleep, lift alkaline levels in the body, neutralise acidic toxins, return the body to a natural state of balance, enhanced the immune system, reduce stress Read the rest of this entry »

Next Events

Monday 20 April 2015

The Pathways Project

PATHWAYS is a development of a school presentation program commissioned by the Victoria Multicultural Commission in 2010 in response to mistreatment of Indian students in the Northern Region. (Panel discussion, speakers TBA)

Monday 20 May 2015

SOAPBOX: Four short talks on interesting topics -skepicamp style. Speakers announced one week prior to the event.

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YAS Blog Anthology

The Young Australian Skeptics Blog Anthology is out now!

This collection features some of the best online skeptical writing of recent years, as nominated by readers.
The book includes contributions fromDr Phil Plait of “Bad Astronomy”Dr Karen Stollznow of the Point of Inquiry PodcastBrian Thompson of The Amateur Scientist podcast
Skepticblog’s Daniel Loxton and Yau-​​Man Chan
New York City Skeptics’ Lisa Bauer
UK Skeptic Dr Chris French
Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe’s Evan Bernstein... and many others!
The e-book is available here or visit the Young Australian Skeptics website.